MikeN
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Posts posted by MikeN
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17 hours ago, wjt4 said:
Scale back things. Go back to 128 marchers, maybe only one tour, demand uniforms that corps have to keep for a minimum of 5 years, no props, no amplification, no friggin' Sousaphones, saxophones, violins, cellos, and trombones on the field. Just talking off the top of my head. Shorter shows? Maybe expenditure caps to create more parity? Time practice caps? Staffing caps? How about requiring a concert number where there is NO drill.
These suggestions keep coming up, but I have to ask, how do these onfield changes save money? Charter companies are using 55 seat busses - unless you drop to 110, at 128 you're leaving empty seats on busses, which actually will cost the corps more per person. Digital uniforms are generally either heavily discounted by manufacturers or passed on to members, and even on a three year cycle are cheaper than the old wool and/or FJM stuff. Most of the "one off" instruments aren't even owned by the corps - they're begged and borrowed. Almost every high school corps-style band in America uses a sound system these days; it's just part of what a halftime is.
At the end of the day, the tour itself is what is the problem. Too many days on the road, too many vehicles chugging gas, too many days of food and nights of housing needed, and event management eats up virtually all of DCI the Show Promoter's revenue.
I don't even know if there is a workable solution long term, but off the top of my head, I'd propose a redesign of the tour where the unpaid-by-DCI, local tours culminate in regionals that determine a champion and only a certain number of qualifiers move on to the national tour "playoffs," with *that* travel subsidized by DCI, maybe with corps travelling and housing together.
Mike
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I was part of a group starting a SoundSport group in 2020 - we got close to a soft rollout/recruitment drive before COVID put an end to it. Housing, food and travel were the big concerns. Instruments, volunteers and staff can be done if you build relationships. Housing, food and travel cannot.
Mike
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Oooh - 90's! From my "historical" playlist:
- 1989 Blue Devils - Ya Gotta Try
- 1989 Blue Devils - Johnny One Note
- 1989 Madison Scouts - Make His Praise Glorious
- 1990 Blue Devils - Pinball Wizard
- 1990 Phantom Regiment - Carnival of the Animals
- 1990 Crossmen - Now or Never
- 1990 Bluecoats - Caravan
- 1991 Phantom Regiment - Pagliacci
- 1991 Blue Devils - Commencement
- 1991 Bluecoats - Nutville
- 1992 Blue Devils - When a Man Loves a Woman
- 1992 Madison Scouts - Funny
- 1992 Crossmen - Puma
- 1993 Phantom Regiment - Malambo
- 1993 Crossmen - Yellowjacket
- 1993 Velvet Knights - William Tell Overture
- 1993 Freelancers - Open Up Wide
- 1993 Dutch Boy - Luck be a Lady
- 1994 Blue Devils - Night Streets
- 1994 Cadets - Mambo
- 1994 Phantom Regiment - Amor El Brujo
- 1995 Cadets - Swing Swing Swing
- 1995 Madison Scouts - La Danza Pasillo
- 1996 Blue Devils - Desi
- 1996 Phantom Regiment - Ballet Suite No 4
- 1996 Madison Scouts - A Mis Abuelos
- 1996 Madison Scouts - En Fuego
- 1997 Blue Devils - The Marketplace
- 1997 Crossmen - Birdland
- 1998 Santa Clara Vanguard - Third Dance
- 1998 Blue Devils - One Hand One Heart (closer, the actual song)
- 1998 Cavaliers - Machine
- 1998 Madison Scouts - Remembrance
- 1998 Magic of Orlando - Lil' Liza Jane
- 1999 Bluecoats - Armando's Rhumba
Sorry for the long list, but if you've never listened to any older stuff, here's a good start.
Mike
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11 hours ago, TOC said:
Wonder how many years a set of brass life cycle is before it's recycle time.
For Guardians, it was 4 years. We'd resell/buy a section per year of trumpets, mellos, baris/euphs and tubas. Down at our level, there are no free lunches - we were paying the difference out of pocket.
Mike
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6 hours ago, Phantom56 said:
The kids who march today mostly come from upper-middle class families. Not a problem for their parents to shell out $6,000 for dues and other travel expenses.
Not in my corps - they struggled mighty hard in the Before Times of 2017-2019.
Mike
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On 11/30/2022 at 2:12 PM, craiga said:
Yes, 2000 BAC was another legendary journey for the corps. They had spring training that year in my town of Biddeford, Maine, so I went over every day after work. They didn't even have their first show until July 4th in Beverly. It was their most talented corps up to that year.
The '99 program was rock solid across the board, if very safe. Even to much younger me, it felt like a vehicle designed to drop the corps off in Finals, but that was about it. The 2000 show was an incredible design from start to finish - it felt like a top 6 program before they'd even played a note. Didn't hurt that they were #### good at playing too. 🙂
Mike
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And in 2019, few other DCI expatriates and I started work on a SoundSport group. Long story short, it was going to be an all-girl group. We chose Valkyries for the name. We were prepared and rolling for a limited debut in the summer of 2020, but then the pandemic came along, and the project didn't recover.
Mike
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On 11/25/2022 at 9:26 PM, Orwellian Wiress said:
Okay, I'll fess up... there absolutely was a reason why I posted this. I've had this idea floating around in the back of my mind. I've been thinking about starting a band. It would operate in the same way that your average amateur rock band would, but with the instruments of a drumline. The basic concept is to imagine a typical indoor drumline but with the disturbing horror imagery associated with goth music.
Naming is something I've considered for a while. Do I go with a cool pop culture reference that has a sentimental value to me, or a name that sounds like the opening act for a Top 10 corps? Nothing is finalized yet, this is still just an idea. But there is one name that's stuck out the most to me: "Darkside Chronicles". It's referencing the title of a video game, but it also sounds like something you can picture Brant Crocker yelling out. It also alludes to the general vibe of this hypothetical band, and is a warning that this ain't your father's drumline.
So to sum it up, TL;DR: Fantasized about starting a band, wanted to see what kind of names DCI fans would fit a drum corps
So from 2005-2010, I co-produced a band called World Gone Mad. It was essentially an all-age drum corps, except we didn't march and only played arrangements of rock music. Some of it we arranged ourselves (we had a Bluecoats alum who was wonderful at it) and some of it came straight from Hal Leonard. We had a 30 minute set, and the centerpiece of it was "A Young Person's Guide to KISS."
At our peak we had 30 brass and 6 drums. We played the Texas Drum Corps Preview for many years, as well as DCI/DCA shows, marching band comps, 10k's (that way the audience marched past *us*), roller derby, demolition derby, tattoo conventions, etc. Also did a Mardi Gras one year that is one of my better travel stories. And we played a club gig once that caused me to meet Chris M at Genesis, who because of him my kiddo ended up a DCI drum major.
Don't know if we were good, but we were very loud, and isn't that really the soul of drum corps?
Mike
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I don't even listen to whole shows anymore, so I've got a whole playlist of single songs. #1 for me is always "Johnny One Note" by BD in '89. However, from more recent stuff:
- 2016 Bluecoats - Todo Tiende
- 2016 Troopers - Fix You
- 2017 BD - Everything Must Change
- 2017 SCV - Into a Virtual World
- 2017 Bluecoats - Psychopomp
- 2017 Bluecoats - Zombie Woof
- 2018 SCV - My Body is a Cage
- 2018 Cavaliers - Oh What a World
- 2019 Bluecoats - Eleanor Rigby
- 2022 Bluecoats - Whatever that #### Keytar Song is Called
Mike
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On 11/18/2022 at 10:19 PM, Jeff Ream said:
Open Class in many ways does stay regional until closer to finals. But isn't this the corps where the director begged for $100k to finish the season...just a few years ago?
If your region is California or the upper Midwest. Didn't work that way for Guardians or the other southern groups.
(and yes, that $100k thing left a bad taste in my mouth as well)
Mike
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On 11/11/2022 at 11:16 PM, C.Holland said:
DCI is an experience sold to students. Tickets mean nothing. They’re almost superfluous.
Superfluous to the corps. Tickets are the lifeblood of DCI's event management operation though.
Mike
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The TLDR version -
- Rugby ref complains another ref sexually harassed her verbally and physically.
- He was open and admitted it, and was placed on probation for 6 months. This was not recorded publicly, and he was not removed from any ref gigs.
- SafeSport admitted they use "informal" resolutions for 22% of all sanctions to date, that are not reported in their database. They told him he has to voluntarily disclose it to possible employers, but there is no mechanism to enforce it.
- Victim felt this was not sufficient or fair, and continued to raise concerns to others in the rugby community.
- SafeSport has now threatened to start a formal investigation of the victim, as they say she shared SafeSport documents regarding the investigation with others, and that by doing so she is engaging in "Emotional Misconduct: Stalking and Harassment" of the perpetrator.
I know this is sport related, but as SafeSport keeps getting brought into the DCI and marching arts world as a solution to problems of misconduct, it needs to be reminded that they've got their own problems going on as well.
Mike
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I'd announce it.
I *did* announce it when I was with a corps.
Mike
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13 hours ago, C.Holland said:
Indy is cheap ol white bread. Just has a lid, a lot of parking, and HQ down the street.
And little to no rental fees.
Mike
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1 hour ago, IllianaLancerContra said:
Just trying to be succinct. I lived through it too. 🤐
Mike
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9 minutes ago, rpbobcat said:
I know this is O.T.
But, for those of us who were never on RAMD or REDDIT who is Catherine Burr ?
Troll poster extraordinaire, who just overwhelmed the old RAMD newsgroup with negativity and conspiracy.
Mike
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14 hours ago, madisonsmiley said:
I see the Scouts named Susan Smith brass caption supervisor . . .
www.forwardperformingarts.org/news/madison-scouts-welcome-susan-smith-as-brass-caption-supervisor
She appears to be an enigma as far as drum corps goes. What corps has she worked with? What years and what positions? Just wondering.Good get - she's got a resume a mile long, and involving actual teaching as well. On the corps side, she's been a DCI judge as well as a creative consultant and tour director. (And not that she needs it at *all*, but she's the wife of DCI Hall of Famer Robert W Smith.)
Mike
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Hi Keenan! Welcome aboard.
- During the audition camps, the monthly weekend camps and after "move ins," you'll be staying with the corps, usually at a high school or college campus. If it's a HS, then you're sleeping in the gym. It's good practice for tour. If it's a college, sometimes they'll arrange dorm rooms, other places you'll be again in the gym.
- This is purely from outside observation, but Madison appears to be a younger World Class corps, but that doesn't mean they're a *young* WC corps. NGL, 15 is young for most WC groups. I worked with an Open Class group and that was still on the young-ish end. As a result, they're going to look at how mature you are, and how serious you take it.
- School really depends on your own school. Each one is different. All corps will tell you that if it looks like they're going to offer you a contract, start talking with your school about spring finals. You may have to arrange for alternate test dates or make up days, and that's going to be on you to do.
Hope that helps! Feel free to ask anything else you think off too.
Mike
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Yeah, I was wondering about the parallels here too. The most horrible part is, via ESPN:
QuoteCone noted that the only power the USSF has over the NWSL is sanctioning the league. Any further discipline will likely come from the NWSL.
"I guess I would say we have influence but not the power to force anything," she said.
Um, you can actually sanction the league then. She said that sanctions or revoking their license to participate, is a step too far. Which begs the question, what would they have to then *do* to merit it, if this isn't it?
MIke
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14 hours ago, Sutasaurus said:
Wow! I’m not a percussion person but it looks like they landed some good talent. Can anyone share experiences with any of the team?
Tyler and Matt did our arrangements for two years while I was at Guardians. They were a pleasure to work with and their charts were awesome - they have a real eye for writing to the talent.
MIke
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I have the sheet music to that drum feature. Honestly, no, it doesn’t hold up. It’s era-appropriate for sure, and still ######, but these days it’s ram-mish to the point of overwritten, and it’s way too 16th-note based - it’s very “square.”
It’s also got like 72 flams in like 32 bars.
Mike
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I'll come over to this thread - wow. I get the financial reasoning behind it, for sure. It's still just sad for having one less competing corps.
Mike
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2 hours ago, Lance said:
1998 Cavies is another I just though of. 4th, but not super talked about even back then. They did the Sparke pieces "For the Brass" and "For the Woodwinds" which was the 2nd time I heard Sparke on the field after the Cadets did Celebration in 97. I remember loving those two pieces, and tried to find a cd that had a concert recording of them (bitd, it was harder since napster was just getting started, i think?). The closer was very cool, too iirc. Going to fire that one up when I get home today.
The guard in the corps unis to start is a neat look (Madison did it that year as well, IIRC), and the closer with everyone on cymbals is flippin' awesome. Got to see it live - I'm so glad I did. The build up to the abrupt end created a neat moment of silence before everyone cheered.
Mike
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23 hours ago, Ashontheinternet said:
Jagged Line is absolutely spectacular and undeservedly doesnt get enough love. it is so good.
A million times this. It's pure adrenaline on the field, and it has one of the best battery books ever put together (I went back for fun and learned to play it - it's amazing!).
Mike
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A Modest Proposal
in DCI World Class Corps Discussions
Posted
Only if you’re a top 15 WC corps. 😞
Mike